It’s never an easy proposition getting two dozen people to agree on much of anything, but in the case of the 24 members on a 10-day Ya’lla Tours’ Egypt educational trip, we stood united: It’s safe to travel to Egypt - and there’s never been a better time to do so.

The primary issues that we all grappled with were, of course, those dealing with safety following Egypt’s January revolution and any negative repercussions that might impact tourists. It didn’t take us long at all to decide that it’s safe for travelers to return to Egypt, a sentiment echoed by each and every individual with whom I traveled during the May 5-15 “Egypt, A New Beginning” familiarization trip. The trip included four days in Cairo, two in Luxor and four on a Nile River cruise visiting Esna, Edfu and Aswan, where an excursion was made to Abu Simbel in the far south (for more information on Ya’lla, visit www.yallatours.com).

Most of the group – 19 travel agents, one pastor, two Ya’lla sales representatives, two journalists (including myself); and a photographer - included many first-time travelers to Egypt. Even though we were unescorted in Cairo, we never felt threatened in any way. During our four days there, two at the beginning of the tour and two at the end of the trip, 27 people were killed in sectarian violence, and yet not one of us felt threatened in any way. I ventured out with a group of seven to a Lebanese restaurant in the city, and none of us felt uncomfortable walking the streets after dark.

In Cairo, our tour bus came equipped with an armed security person - a standard procedure for Ya’lla - and security in the more upscale hotels was heightened. We soon realized the violence was isolated to pockets of the city, just as it is many major cities in the U.S. “I would tell clients, look at what’s happening in Dallas,” said Pat Mallory, a consultant at All World Travel in Sulphur Springs, Texas. “Look at the number of incidents there. You have to put it in proper perspective.”

Our group agreed that what the safety issues in Egypt boiled down to was perception versus reality. “Although there is a perception of chaos, tourists are very well protected and guarded,” said Ya’lla President Ronen Paldi, who joined our group on the last day of the tour in Cairo. “The one agreement within Egyptian society is that they need tourism as the main immediate engine for economic improvement. It’s the number one employer as well as the country’s economic engine.”

James Pierce, chief financial officer and operations manager of Cruise & Tour Center in Dallas, told me: “Everyone is aware of the incredible demonstration that occurred on Jan. 25 that changed the political environment of the Egyptian people to create a new democratic government.” What travel agents and their clients have to be mindful of, he said, is to understand that “the protests and demonstrations that they see on the news now have nothing to do with that incident and that it is about the same Copt and Muslim religious disagreement that has been going on for thousands of years.” The difference, today, he said, is that Egypt is front and center in the news. “This has not hindered travelers from visiting Egypt in the past, but now the press is spotlighting it more due to the recent political changes,” he said.

As a first-timer traveler to Egypt myself, I relied on the travel agents traveling with me. They had explored the destination before the revolution and they knew the differences between then and now. Bob Kleppick, owner of Global Pathfinders Travel in Spring, Texas, who toured Egypt in 2009, remembered a very different scenario at the country’s iconic tourism attractions. For instance, when we traveled to Giza to visit the Pyramids and Sphinx, there were just four tour buses in the parking lot. When Kleppick traveled there 12 years ago, some 400 buses disembarked thousands of tourists onto the site.

In Abu Simbel, we were the only tourist group visiting the site. “We had Abu Simbel to ourselves,” said Kleppick. “When I was there in 1999 you couldn’t get a clear picture of the monument itself because there were so many people there. I had to hold my camera over my head to get the shots I wanted.”

In addition to substantially fewer people at attractions, another plus for traveling to Egypt now is the warm reception we received from locals. “American?” they would ask on the street. “We love Americans! We love Obama!” The Egyptians’ enthusiasm came with a caveat, however. Vendors on the streets and at attractions were extremely anxious to sell us their wares, and clearly have been suffering from the dearth of visitors. Their aggressiveness was similar to what I’ve seen in other Middle Eastern countries, the Caribbean and Mexico, but simply ramped up a couple of notches.

There were members of our group who put a positive spin on the tenacity of the vendors, however. They saw it as a way to obtain better bargains. “If your clients’ enjoy the negotiating game, this is the perfect time for them to go shopping for some incredible Egyptian antiques, gifts – alabaster, papyrus, mother of pearl—and souvenirs,” said Pierce. “Due to the low volume of tourists to the area, we purchased items at extremely low rates.”

Although bargaining and fending off vendors is not my thing, it was a small price to pay for an incredibly exciting and enlightening experience. The Egyptian tourist sites themselves are truly amazing, enabling travelers to journey 5,000 years and more back in time. To couple the exploration of those sites with the opportunity to see a country transforming itself into a democracy was, for me, a life-changing experience.

Lisa Farnum Haskell, owner of Farnum & Christ Travel in Richmond, Va., probably said it best: “Egypt is an amazing, fascinating country in its past and its present. Where else can you go and be so far back in the past and so on the edge of the future?”

Claudette Covey is a veteran travel writer who frequently writes for TravelPulse.com.